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Good morning, Marketers, and cheers, or “Priekā!” as they say in Latvia.

Before the invention of premium vodka, pretentious people – like yours truly – would order Stolichnaya. We knew, because the marketers told us, it was “real” vodka from Russia and therefore the best. That sold a lot of bottles for a long time but is now biting the brand right in the sales figures. 

Stolichnaya is now making a big point that it’s from Latvia. It also renamed itself Stoli to differentiate itself from the entirely separate Stolichnaya vodka made in Russia and owned by the Russian government. Legal fights over brand rights mean Stoli can sell under either name in 150 countries, while the other one can only use the name to sell in Russia and the Netherlands.  

And speaking of premium … To keep up with other B2B and B2C trends, there’s no better way than to immerse yourself in over 45 sessions at our MarTech virtual conference March 29 and 30 (registration is free). We’ve made it easy for attendees to select relevant talks ahead of time so their schedule is personalized and ready to go on these two big days.

Constantine von Hoffman

Managing Editor

Quote of the day



“Apple will struggle to explain why government changes will radically change the iPhone when Google already does it and it will struggle to explain why it can’t do it in the United States when it may soon do it in Europe.” – Paul Gallant, a policy analyst for Cowen & Co., on pending EU law requiring Apple to change what apps its phones can use.


About the author

Constantine von Hoffman
Staff
Constantine von Hoffman is managing editor of MarTech. A veteran journalist, Con has covered business, finance, marketing and tech for CBSNews.com, Brandweek, CMO, and Inc. He has been city editor of the Boston Herald, news producer at NPR, and has written for Harvard Business Review, Boston Magazine, Sierra, and many other publications. He has also been a professional stand-up comedian, given talks at anime and gaming conventions on everything from My Neighbor Totoro to the history of dice and boardgames, and is author of the magical realist novel John Henry the Revelator. He lives in Boston with his wife, Jennifer, and either too many or too few dogs.

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